Star Fox: Streets of Shadow
by Arwingmaster23
Summary: The streets of Corneria City are filled with the scum of petty thugs and drug dealers, there's only one light among this dark city:  Star Fox.  Rated M for later content.
1. Chapter 1

Star Fox

Streets of Shadow

(A Max Payne style fanfic)

Chapter 1.

It was raining again, it usualy did these days. Fox propped his feet up on his desk and closed his eyes. The sound of the rain pelting the roof was enough to make his eyelids get heavy. He was about to fall asleep when his chair was shoved down to the floor. Fox's head slammed onto the desk and was then held there. "You shouldn't fall asleep on the job Fox." a voice behind him said.

"Mmmmm." Fox mumbled, the throbbing in his head getting worse as his head was pushed into the desk. "Listen, you owe me for locking me up in the joint McCloud!" the voice said. "You made a big mistake not killing me that day!" "And your mistake," another voice, female, said. "Was not checking to see if Fox was alone."

The first person, Fox recognized as a drug dealer named Micky Havok, gave a pained grunt as he was kicked right in the groin. "I'm sorry, I swear! Just don't hurt me!" There was the metallic clicking sound of handcuffs and the lights were turned on. The lights hurt his eyes worse than his head. "I'm almost surprissed you let your gaurd down Fox, it's not like you." the newcomer said. "I take 3 minutes out of my day to get coffee and you get beat up by scum like this." she said, kicking the drug dealer. "No offense." she said. Micky grunted, "None taken." Fox looked up to see Krystal holding out a brown stryofoam cup of coffee out to him.

Fox took the cup and sat up. He removed the lid and gulped down a third off it in a few seconds. Krystal sat on the edge of the desk and picked up the phone near Fox. "Yeah, Cornerian State Police? Got a runner laying at my feet here. Huh? No he's not dead, yet. Sure, but make it quick." she said. Fox finished his coffee and threw it into the waste basket. Krystal put the phone down, and crossed her legs. "So besides being beaten up by a common drug dealer, what else is new Fox?"

Fox slid a note over to her. "Ah a new job maybe?" she asked. Fox nodded. "A little thing about a drug ring on the east side of the city." Krystal hopped of the desk and wrapped her arms around Fox's neck. "Work at last. Think we can go together? Just the 2 of us?" Fox leaned back into her, the smell of lavender hung off her fur. "Maybe, if your a good girl." Krystal sighed and purred in his ear. "That's to bad." she said. "I like being a bad girl a lot better." she said seductively. "All the more better then." Fox said.

Fox pulled the car over and stepped out. The cold night air rustling his fur this way and that. He pulled the bereta from his holster and walked up to the front door. Krystal pulled one from her slim waistline and pressed an ear to the door. "I'm telling ya! This stuff sells better than the newest gun off the market! You'll run out of this stuff before the week is over!" A voice said. "Hmm." another one. "How do I know f this stuff is any good or not?" Krystal hung back and nodded. Fox took the first position in front of the door. 'ready?' Fox thought. Krystal nodded.

Fox kicked the doors in and brought his bereta up. "Every one on the ground and hands on their head!" he yelled. "Shit! It's McCloud!" a dealer said. A thug pulled an uzi from his jacket and sprayed a burst at Fox. The vulpine rolled to his left and took cover behind a few wooden crates. Krystal came from the side of the door, fireing a few rounds into the group before joining him. "Always the cop first ay Fox?" she said smiling.

Fox shook his head and stood to fire a few rounds into an uzi tooting thug, splattering blood on the wall behind him. Fox ducked back down as a shot gun blast destroyed the front of the crate. Krystal pulled a desert eagle from her coat and handed it to Fox. "Switch?" she asked hopefully. Fox traded her the eagle for his bereta and fired another couple of rounds into the throng. Krystal slid out from behind cover, pulling the triggers on the twin berets's faster than anyone could pull the trigger on their guns.

Fox took the moment and shoot the dealer in the neck, blood wetting his fur and then spilling all over the floor. He hid behind cover and motioned for Krystal to toss him a clip. Krystal fired a few rounds from her bereta and reached into a pocket and tossed him a full clip. Fox caught it and ejected his empty one onto the floor. The black furred wolf who had considered buying the drugs spewed about the table picked up his case of money and ran. "Kill the 2 and there's a 20% raise for whoever survives!"

The rest of the thugs got dollar signs in their eyes and started to up their spreads. Krystal rolled across the room and flipped the table up, blocking the sights of most of the gunmen. She jumped and fired throw the wood in different areas. When the table fell to the ground, 5 thugs were laying in a pool of their own rolled and fired a few rounds at 2 more thugs. One thug got behind Krystal and pointed a gun at her head. "Got you." he said. Fox came up behind the guy and blew his brains acorss the wall. "Nope." Fox said. "I got you."

Krystal tucked a hair out of her face and held out Fox's bereta back. "Thanks for the save." she said. Fox took his gun back and handed back the eagle. Fox checked his clip, it was empty. He ejected it and loaded a fresh one in. "Let's go after that scum with the case." he said after pulling back the slide. Krystal knelt down and picked up a syringe. "As much as I hate to say it. You go ahead, something isn't right about these drugs." Fox nodded and ran off.

The wolf ran down the final corridor and ran out to the loading docks. He jumped over a fallen board and ran right into Fox's fist when he ran around a corner. The buyer fell onto his ass and dropped the case. Fox pulled him up from the ground by the edges of his coat and slugged him across the face. The wolf dropped back to the ground, scrambling to get away from Fox. The vulpine picked up the case and slammed it on the side of the wolf's head.

The wolf layed there, bloody and beaten in a puddle of cold rain water. Fox pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed him to a metal railling. Krystal came out from the building pulling a bag jingling with the sound of glass and metal. "I called the cops about a minute ago, we should leave." Fox nodded and picked up the case full of cash. "Isn't that considered stealing evidence?" she asked. "It was a tip off, not a contract job. Guy said it would pay for itself." Krystal shrugged and ran to the front of the building and jumped into the car. "Let's go, it's freezing out here!" she called behind her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Fox woke with his arms around Krystal's bare waist, her warm body snuggled up close to him. To think she could sleep this soundly after last night's job. He pulled her closer to him and buried his face in her shoulder. She sighed and turned to face Fox. She pressed up close to him and sighed again. "You ever worry we won't be able to have time doing this every morning?" Krystal asked. Fox just grunted and opened his eyes. "Worrying is for people who don't have a loaded bereta under their pillow." he said.

Fox peeled himself out of bed and rubbed his eyes. It was still raining outside. "What is with the weather?" Krystal asked, pulling the sheet up to ver her exposed body from the outside world. She shut the blinds and reached for her t-shirt as Fox walked into the bathroom and started the hot water for a bath. When the tub was full, he threw a towel on the toliet seat and sat down. The water was soothing and welcome to the code atmosphere of the apartment. He closed his eyes and let the water seep into every pore on his body. There was a the sound of rubber screatching on asphault as a car put on the brakes outside of the building.

Krystal zipped up a pair of cargo pants and looked outside of the window. A police car had pulled up and the 2 officers stepped out. "Fox, we got cops outside." she called into the bathroom. Fox opened his eyes and stepped out of the tub. "Don't get trigger happy Krystal. Last thing we need is the cops wanting to kill us too."

Fox pulled on his clothing, grey cargo pants and a green long sleeved shirt. He walked to his bed and pulled the gun under his pillow and tucked it into his shoulder walked into his office just as the cops knocked on his door. He sat down in his chair and waited a few more seconds. There was a second knock on the door and Fox sat up. "Come in." he said.

The door opened, and the police chief and his first lieutenant walked in. "Well, police chief Pepper. What gives me the pleasure of your company?" Fox asked. Pepper sat down on the opposite side of Fox, leaving his lieutenant to stand. "Hey Peppy." Fox said to the old hare. Peppy nodded and tilted his hat. "Fox, where were you last night?" Pepper asked.

Fox tilted his chair back and looked under his finger nails. "What does that matter to the police?" he asked, keeping a cocky attitude. Pepper furrowed his brow and scratched his forehead. "Fox, cut the shit. Where were you last night?" he asked again. Fox sighed. "Well if you really want to know, I was here at the office with Krystal and a drug dealer who came to settle the score."

Pepper sighed again. "You sigh a lot, did you know that?" Fox said. "At 10:48 we got a tip off that a drug deal was taking place in the East side of the city. When we arrived, the place was shot up, bodies everywhere on the floor, drugs spewn across the room, and out back at the loading dock was a wolf with a trail of piss trailing down his pant legs. When we took him in he started singing like it was his job. Said that 2 foxes came busting in, guns blazing.

"He said there was a blue one and a red one. We know that Krystal is the only person on this planet with blue fur, Fox. We also know she only works for you." Fox shrugged. "So I shot up a drug deal, what do I need a police interagation only to say that I'm keeping Corneria's streets drug free." Pepper shook his head. "Fox, why don't you come back onto the force? We can use a man like you." Fox shook his head. "I didn't have the freedom I wanted on the force, not even after I made the detective rank. Sorry Pepper, not interested."

Pepper took that as a 'nice offer, but get the fuck out of my office' type of goodbye. He stood and brushed some imaginary dust off his shoulder. "Suit yourself Fox, have a good day." he said. Peppy turned to leave but Fox stopped him with a call. "Hey Peppy," the old hare turned to the young fox. "We on for poker next thursday?" Fox asked. Peppy smiled and nodded. "You bet your ass I'll be there." Peppy said. Fox nodded. "Good to know." Fo said. Peppy and Pepper left his office, leaving a long drawled out silence in the room.

Fox dropped his feet to the ground and sighed. "Thinking about the days as a cop huh?" Krystal asked, her arms crossed leaning in the doorway. "As much as I'd like to deny, yes." Krystal came out of the doorway and put her hands on his shoulders. "Look honey, it isn't wrong to think about your past. I still think about that day we met." Fox chuckled, reminissing about how he met the fiery woman named Krystal.

"I got a tip off about a couple of thugs ready to kill some hotshot millionare, you were all ready there, aiming a spas-12 at me when I kicked the doors open." he said. "As I recall," she said. "I was out of ammo, and only counting on luck that any one would buy the fact that my gun was loaded." Fox smiled and kissed Krystal on her cheek. "After that I asked you to work for me." he said. At that moment, the phone rang. Fox picked it up on the thrid ring. "Star Fox." he said.

Krystal waited patiently as Fox nodded and pulled out a pad and pencil to jot done notes. "Alright, got it. Sure we'll be there." Krystal cocked her head and looked at the notes. '_Date'sBar; 10:00, payment: $1,000,000; mercenaries giving trouble in south side, contact name: Dash Bowman'_. "Hmmm." Krystal mumbled. Fox looked up at her. "Name you recognize?" he asked. "Well I know where Date's Bar is, and the name Bowman sounds familiar. I don't know why."

Fox shrugged and grabbed his grey coat. "Oh well, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" he asked. Krystal pulled a sweater off a chair and shrugged. "Might as well. Long time till 10, by the way is it am or pm?" Fox opened the door and waved her through the door. "PM. And to think it's only 11:30" he said, closing the door and locking it behind him.

When 9:58 pm rolled around, Fox and Krystal stepped out of their car and into the load booming sound of the nightclub known as Date's Bar. Fox looked around, light machines were spiralling all around the place, people were jumping up and down to the music , bartenders were pouring drinks faster than his eye could see. All in all, the perfect place for a meet. "Spread out, see if anybody can recognize you." Fox said. Krystal nodded and took off into the crowd. Fox wandered to the bar and ordered a rum on the rocks.

He sipped his drink as he walked through the crowds of people. He stopped walking when he saw a bunch of people walk in through the front door; all were wearing black suits, not ties, black shirts. He glimsped barrell of a sawed-off shotgun poking outside of his jacket. Fox narrowed his eyes. '_3 guys just walked in, armed to the teeth. I don't think their here for Happy Hour.'_ he thought. Krystal sent a quick reply. '_Got it, watch your back. Scumbag behind you with a holdout, 6mm small arm pistol.'_ Fox took another sip and put his glass down on a table and pulled in a deep breath.

The barrell of a pistol poked into his back, followed by a "Keep quiet." Fox whipped around just as the lights and the music turned off. He grabbed the gun and twisted it in the gunman's hands. He pulled the gun out and fired the first 3 rounds into his chest. The gunman fell and Fox whipped out his own gun, shooting down the next of the mysterious 3 who came to kill them. Krystal had whipped out her eagle and had already shot one of the gunmen in the head, splattering the 3rd guy behind him in blood and brain matter. "I can't see!" he screamed. Fox put him out of his misery with a bullet to the heart.

The smoke from the guns died as the lights turned on, the people had all fled the building except for a few who had gotten hit in the cross-fire. A few had gotedn shot in the leg or in an arm, nothing seroius. Fox dropped his clip and slapped in a new one. The empty sound of the wounded moaning was interrupted with a slow clap of hands. Fox and Krystal whipped around, guns drawn, to see a monkey slowly walking into the club, clapping his hands.

He took of his hat and smiled. "Such skill," he said. "Such tenacity. Truly my grandfather had be correct in hireing you two." he said. Krystal and Fox never lowered their weapons. "Oh, forgive my rudeness. I am Dash Bowman, the contact you were supposed to meet?" Fox lowered his gun and put it into his shoulder holster. Krystal only lowered her gun. "Your late Dash." Fox said. Dash sat down at a table and set his hat down. "Fashionably," he said. "now onto business." Fox sat down and Krystal leaned on the tables divider behind Fox.

"Now as you know," Dash began. "My cousin Andrew called you to set up a deal. You were promissed a milion dollars; half upfront and half after the job was done. I was instructed to meet you here. Any questions?" "Yeah." Krystal asked. "Who hired us." Dash put on a pained face. "Oooh, sorry. I'm not supposed to tell you that." Fox leaned forward in his seat. "Then what's the job?"

Dash pulled a envelope from his pocket and passed it to Fox. "A mob family in the south side of town has been giving my family's resturant some trouble. Saying they can offer protection for a low fee. That fee was half a billion dollars a month. The returant makes good money, but not that good. My grandfather kept telling them to find other customers but they wouldn't listen. Finally after awhile they started threatening him and even beat up my father into an inch of his life just to send a message.

"When he found out how much it took to hire mercenaries, my grandfather looked up you guys and gave you the offer, through my cousin." Fox opened the envelope, a bunch of pictures mostly of sharp claw with guns were it's contents. "Whose the one without the hand?" Krystal asked. Bowman stood. "That's Scales, he's the gang leader. Kill him, and you get paid." Fox took the picture of Scales and tucked it into his back pocket. "What about our upfront payment?" Krystal asked. Dash stood and waved for them to follow him.

They walked out to Dash's car where he opened the trunk. He pulled out a briefcase and handed it to them, Fox opened it up. "It's all there, $500,000 as promised." Dash said. Fox closed the case and looked back to the ape. "We'll let you know when the job is done." he said. Dash gave a small salute and walked into his car. Fox walked back to his car with Krystal in tow. "Let's get this job done." Fox said.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

The rain let up the next day only to revail a grey morning followed by a dull gray afternoon. Falco turned over in bed and pulled a pillow over his head. There was a knock on the door as he did so. Another knock and he turned over again. A third knock on the door finally made him crack. He got up from his bed and stormed to the door. "Look, I don't give a shi- oh it's you." he said upon seeing Fox and Krystal in the doorway.

Fox gave a small wave as hello. "Hi." Krystal said. Falco sighed. "Come on in, I guess." Fox walked into Falco's apartment, the first thing that hit him was the smell. It was like rotten gym socks mixed in with the smell of spoilled milk and rotten garbage. Krystal took one step in and gagged. "On second though," she said. "think i'll wait in the car." Falco shrugged and pulled a couple of beers from his frige. "Beer?" he asked. Fox nodded and took it. "Sure." Falco sat down at the small table in the kitchen, Fox stood and quitely sipped his beer. "So," Falco said. "What're ya doing in this part of town?" Fox twirled his beer glass and sat down across from his fethered friend.

"I got a job, and I think it's way to big for just Krystal and I." the vulpine said. "Ffft." Falco said. "I don't recall ever hearing that come out of your mouth Foxie. What happened to 'I can take anything'?" Fox shook his head. "Look will you help me or not?" he said. Falco rubbed his head. "How much is the pay." he asked. "Half a million dollars." Fox replied. Falco whistled. "And that's only after the job is done." Fox said. "We got half a million up front." Falco chuckled. "Whoever hired you sure wants some son of a bitch dead."

Fox threw a picture onto the table. "Names Scales. I figured with your underworld conections you would probably know him." Falco looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "Scales...Scales..." he muttered to himself. "Nope don't know him." he finally said. "I'll ask around though, soon as I get some clea- or at least decent clothes and a gun." Fox held out his hand. "Office, 2 days from now. Got it?" Falco gripped his friend's hand. "Count on it!"

Fox pulled into the garage's parking lot, the sound of classic rock filtering from the open doors, followed by the sound of tools clanking against each other. Fox walked in and leaned against a car. "Hmmm-Hmmm." A voice hummed under the car. Growing bored, Fox banged on the car's hood twice. The echoing sound made the small person under the car jump. "Hey! What's the big idea!" The mechanic rolled out from benath the car. "Oh, hey Fox." Fox waved at Slippy. "How's it going?" he asked. "Not bad, not bad. How's Krystal? I don't see her any where." Fox shrugged. "She's good. How're the kids?" Slippy got up from the ground and wiped grease off of his hands on his coveralls.

"Look, Fox" Slippy said. "If you wanted a normal chat all you had to do was pick up the phone. What did you come to see me for?" Fox looked around, the rest of Slippy's employies were still working. "Listen, can we talk in your office? I don't feel comfortable out here." Slippy nodded, he understood Fox's paranoia from the years they had worked together. They walked into Slippy's office and the toad shut and locked the door. "How long have you had gangsters working for ya Slippy?" Fox asked.

Slippy's eyes opened wider. "What? Gangsters? Fox, why would I hire gangsters to help run a garage?" Fox shook his head. "You mean to tell me that with all your time as a merc you forgot how to tell a normal person apart from a stone cold killer?" he said. Slippy started to stammer. "Fox I would never- I mean I didn't-. Fox I'm a married man, I can't get into this crap any more!" Fox shoved Slippy to the ground as some of the mechanics pulled machine guns from their work benches and fired scattered bursts into the office.

Fox pulled a bereta from his jacket and handed it out to Slippy. Remember how to use one of these things?" he asked. Slippy pushed the gun aside. "Screw that. These guys tricked me for 3 years, it's payback time. I got a china lake behind my fileing cabnet." Fox took the gun back and fired a few rounds into the mechanics. One fell with a bullet wound right in his stomach.

"Okay, I got it!" Slippy said. Fox turned to see Slippy pull a grenade launcher out from behind his fileing cabinet on the other side of the room. Slippy put the barrell on the broken window and puled the trigger. There was an light click, it was empty. "Whoops. Forgot it wasn't loaded." the small toad said to himself. Fox rolled his eyes and fired a few more blind shots at the gunmen. Slippy crawled over to his desk and opened a small compartment filled with grenade rounds.

Fox exchanged clips and fired 2 more rounds. "Hurry Slip," he said. "I think reinforcements just arrived!" A grey van screeched into the parking lot, the doors opened and a gang of sharpclaw came charging out. The computer on Slippy's desk was soon riddled with holes, throwing sparks across the floor. Slippy slapped a grenade into the loading chamber and snapped the chamber closer. He braced the gun over the shattered window and pulled the trigger. A muffled whoosh followed the click of the trigger, followed by the screams of the sharpclaw caught in the explosion. Fox peered over to see the sharpclaw heading back to their van. "Come on!" he yelled.

The 2 ran out of the office and into the hell that used to be the garage floor. Cars were burned, flipped by the explosions, the bodies of the sharpclaw and the mechanics that worked for Slippy. Fox ran outside of the garage to see the van speed away, he raised his gun and fired round after round at the van. One of the shots knocked off the license plate on the back of the van as it screetched out of the parking lot. "Damn!" Fox sowre under his breath. he turned to see Slippy looking sadly at the ruins of the garage.

Fox holstered his gun and patted his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry Slip. They would have come after you, even if I hadn't shown up." Slip just dropped his grenade launcher and clenched his fists. "I'm in." he said. "I don't care what the score is, I just wanna kill whoever is responsible for this!" Another car screeched into the parking lot, this time it was a white sedan. The passanger door opened to reveal Krystal in the front seat. "Get in!" Fox and Slippy dashed for the car, Fox in the front and Slippy in the back. "Hey watch it toady!" Falco said as Slippy crashed into him.

"Oh no," Slippy groaned. "You got him too? Come on guys I though you wanted my help here!" "Shut up Slippy! Like it or not we're in this together. " Falco said. Slippy crossed his arms as Krystal hit the gas and peeled out of the parking lot. "Well I'm not likeing it!"

Peppy typed up the last of his report and emailed it to Pepper's secretary. It had been a long day and it was finaly coming to a close. He clicked 'send' and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. The office was quieet tonight, only 6 officers had called in this morning and 4 of those had left within 4 hours. His phone started and ring, 'That's odd' he thought. No one got personel calls on the outside lines, even at this hour.

"Hello?" he said into the mic. "Coffee shop, 10 minutes." then the line went dead. He shrugged and picked up his coat. He walked out of the office and unlocked his car door there was a slight mist hanging in the air, threatening to rain again. The streets seemed deserted this time of night, usually there were cars racing to unknown destinations. But tonight was, odd. The coffee shop was only a few minutes away from the Police Department's head office.

The coffee shop was a beacon of light in the darkness, he pulled into the nearest open parking space and opened the door. He started to walk towards the shop when he was forced to the ground. The sound of his nose breaking was the loudest thing he had heard tonight. There was a sharp pain in the small of his back and he was pulled onto his feet and slammed against the trunk of a car. "Do you know Fox McCloud?" a reptillian voice asked. Peppy shifted his face to get a good look at his assailent, the only thing he could see were bright yellow eyes and the light bouncing of green scales.

"Sharpclaw." he muttered. The sharpclaw thug banged Peppy's head on the trunk again. "Answer me!" he shouted. "Do you know Fox McCloud!" Peppy gave a weak chuckle. "I don't know why you want him, bet he'll kill you if you get on his bad side." The sharpclaw threw him to the ground. "Kill him!" he said to 2 others at the edge of the light. "Send a message to McCloud to not stick in his noes in where it doesn't belong!" The 2 others walked up to Peppy, pulling curved knives from their jackets. "Sure thing boss!" one said, excited. The leader stormed into a car and drove off into the night.

Once the sound of the car dissapered into the night, Peppy yanked free the grip on his revolver freeing it from it's holster. He cocked the hammer and fired a round into the forehead of the sharpclaw closer to him. The body fell on it's companion who scurried away from the injured hare, trailing a path of his partners blood.

Peppy struggled to pull out his cell phone and punch in Fox's number. "Fox," he weazed when the dial tone dissapered. "coffee shop, 3rd and broadway, sharpclaw... think I'll need...an ambulance." he said, then he passed out. "_Peppy?_" Fox said over the phone. "_Peppy hold on! We're coming just hold on!_"

Fox pulled into the coffee shop's parking lot just after the police and the peramedics arrived. "Oh no." Krystal said from the passenger seat. Fox jumped out of the car and charged to the police line. "Sir, you can't come through here!" an officer said to him, right before he slugged the dog right across the face. Pepper was at the center of the group where a chalk outline of a sharpclaw was etched into the ground and Peppy was being loaded onto a stretcher. "Fox!" Pepper said to him. Fox walked up to the old hound dog. "What the hell is going on!" Krystal said once she got past the police holding the line.

Pepper watched as the Peppy was loaded onto an ambulance and then driven away to the nearest hospital. "Peppy was attacked, he checked out of the office about 15 minutes ago and we thought he was headed home. We got a call later from the manager of the shop saying that he heard gunshot and ran outside to see Peppy and a sharpclaw bleeding out here." Fox looked down at the body bag that was being zipped up near the chalk outline.

"Good thing Peppy still had his old revolver huh?" Fox said as he looked at the bullet hole in the sharpclaw's head. He noticed a peice of cloth sticking out of the sharpclaws shirt and he grabbed it. Opening it up revealed a symbol, 2 axes crossed behin the skull of a lizard. Why did it seem so familiar? He tucked the cloth into his pocket and stood. "Find anything?" Pepper asked. Fox shook his head. "No, just wondering how funny it is that this is one of the same guys who destroyed Slippy's garage yesterday.

Pepper shrugged his shoulders. "Or maybe your just looking for some one to blame Fox. Look, I want Star Fox to stay out of this. This is a police investigation now, no room for hired guns like yourself." Krystal sighed. "Nothing in this city is going to keep us from doing this job Pepper, besides we already took the money so were in this to the end." Pepper shook his head. "Such youth." he muttered. "Only to be ruined by this line of work."

Fox and Krystal got back in the car and drove off back to the office were Falco and Slippy were playing cards. "So what do we do first?" Krystal asked. Fox looked over to her briefly when they stopped at a red light. "First, we're gonna see a friend about getting some equipment. Then we're going to learn all we can about the Sharpclaw gain in town."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Fox rapped his knuckles once more on the shhet metal door. "Jesus! I said I was coming the first billion times didn't I!" a rather annoyed voice said on the other side. The door opened up into the ceiling to show a husky in a wheel chair by the door control. "Fox!, long time no see man!" "Hey, Bill. How you holding up?" Fox asked. "Not bad, not bad. Hey, is that? Yeah it is! Come on in Krystal! Jeez, your still hanging around with this sorry excuse of a shooter?" Krystal smiled. "Nice to see you too Bill." Bill moved his chair so both Fox and Krystal into his shack.

"So." Bill drawled out. "What brings you to my liitle heavenly slice of hell?" Fox sat pulled a chair out and sat down across frm Bill. "We need guns." he plainly said. Bill shrugged and moved over to a blanket hung across a wall, he pulled it down to reveal several different guns across the wall. "This good enough? If not I got a ton of M60s in the back room." Fox eyed the arsenal and pulled a few stacks of dollars. "How's $58,000 for this hole stack and a few in the back?" Bill scratched his head. "Make it $60,000 and you've got a deal."

Fox threw the money on the table and started putting weapons in duffell bags. "I'll go get the heavies, be right back." Bill said and wheeled to the back. Krystal grabbed a spas-12 from the wall and cradled it for a second. "You never did tell me how you met Bill." she said. Fox pulled the next one, a AK-47, from the wall and put it into a bag. "We were friends all the way from grad school to college. He went into the airforce as a test pilot, I went to become a cop.

"When I reached the rank of detective, I got news that Bill had been in a crash. One of the engines on the plane he was flying shut down. It went into a nose dive and crash landed 10 klicks away from the base. Doctors tried all they could, but Bill's legs had to be amputated." Krystal carefully lowered the shotgun into a bag. "That's horrible. How has Bill been able to deal with that?" Fox shrugged and put a Barrett .50 cal into a bag. "Bill has always been a tough hound. He was a drunk the first couple of years, his wife sent him to rehab 3 years after he lost his legs. When he came out, he tried his best to live with his wife and daughter. And he did pretty good for 4 years, they were the best of his life."

Krystal loaded ammunition and grenades into bags. "What happened?" she asked. Fox stopped and looked the vixen in the eye. "They died in fire when we were at a bar with Falco and Slippy. He blames himself for not being there to help them." Bill came back with a M60 and a bunch of RPG launchers in his lap. "Okay, I got the stuff and the ammo is in the back room. Fox can you go get that?" Fox nodded. "Sure bud, I owe you one." Bill pointed at him. "You owe me pletny!" he called back to him. Bill put the guns on the table, scooped up the the cash and pulled a beer from the fridge. "Want one?" Bill asked Krystal. Krystal shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

She took the offered beer and popped off the cap. Bill took a swig of beer and grunted. "The only good thing in my life these days." he said with a laugh. Krystal pried into his mind for abit. His thoughts were sad, pitifull. He had lived the past years in sadness about what happened to his wife and child. "So, Fox tells me your a telepath. That true?" Bill asked. Krystal gave a shy smile and took a swig of beer. "Yes, actually. I can read the thoughts of others and even implant my thoughts into other's minds. A mental way of talking so to speak." Bill nodded and put his beer down on the table.

"Alright," he said. "what am I thinking?" Krystal slipped inside Bill's mind once more and scanned his thoughs. He was switching topics fast as to see if she could find wich one he was actually focusing on. She tried a little harder, going deeper into his mind without hurting him. "Let's see," she said aloud. "You just switched form thinking about a baseball game to the next air show. And your currently thinking that this is all to weird." Bill shook his head. "Yeah, really weird." he said.

Fox came back around the corner with 3 duffell bags filled with ammo and rockets. "All right, I think we're set for war." he said. Bill looked up from his beer. "Hey, what do you need the fire power from anyway? Who the hell did you piss off?" Fox sholdered most of the bags, carefully handling the explosives. "We got a job, killing off the leader of the Sharpclaw gang." Bill semmed to jump in his wheel chair. "You've got to be kidding me." Fox walked out through the door. Bill wheeled his way out behind Krystal. "Fox your kidding right!" Fox put the gear away in the car and climbed into his car. Bill stopped the door from closing and grabbed Fox by his jacket.

"Fox," Bill said. "Tell me you are not going after Scales!" Fox looked calmly into his eyes. "Bill, don't worry. I can handle whatever is going on." Bill let go of Fox. "Fox, promise me, no SWEAR to me, that you will take care of Scales and come out alive!" Fox closed the door. "I swear Bill, I'll take care of this job." Fox started the car and drove off. Bill looked after his friend. "You better Fox! You better!" he yelled after the car.

Fox hauled the last bag up to the office and sat it down on the desk. Falco opened the first bag he saw and pulled out the M60. "Holy shit!" he said. "Bill hooked us up didn't he?" Slippy pulled out one of the RPG tubes. "Must have, this is the newest model." Fox picked up an M16 and loaded a clip into it. "Alright, we're armed to the teeth. Now we just need to find clues to the-" A knock on the door interruped him. Fox turned to the door. "Get the stuff ready to go." Fox whispered to his friends. Falco and Slippy gathered all the bags and slowly walked to the fire escape.

Fox went to the door and clicked the safety off on the M16. Krystal pulled a spas-12 from the desk and loaded some shells into the loading chamber. She pulled the pump and loaded a shell into the chamber. '_Sharpclaw?_' Fox thought. Krystal extended her mental powers beyond the room and into the hallway. '_Sharpclaw_.' she said back. Fox motioned to the fire escape where Falco and Slippy were making there way down. Krystal made her way to the window and stood there waiting.

"Should we blow the door?" a sharpclaw on the other side asked. "Why not?" another said. "Scales said to do whatever we wanted. You got the charges?" "Sure! Right here in my bag." Fox pulled a flash bang from his pocket and crept to the window. Fox stepped onto the fire escape and hid behind the wall next to the window. "Wait." A sharpclaw said. "What now?" the other asked. "I left the timers in the car. Be right back!" the other groaned. Fox motioned fro Krystal to head down the fire escape.

It took about 5 minutes to get to the last level on the fire escape, by then Fox heard a small explosion back on the top floor, the sharpclaw had finaly returned with the timers. "Alright, let's move." he said. The group moved through the parking lot of the apartment building. A group of sharplcaw were haggling some civies on the street corner. Fox sprinted to the nearest cover, which happened to be a van used by the sharpclaw.

Fox peered around the corner, the sharpclaw were now arguing about what martial arts master could beat who. Fox slung the M16 over his back and pulled his bereta's from his shoulder holsters. He motioned for the others to stay down and wait. Fox dove from the cover of the van, pulling the triggers on the guns as fast as he could. He was able to shoot and kill all of them except for one. The last one he shot his knee cap out. Krystal, Falco, and Slippy came around the van as Fox wiped the gravel from his side. "Falco, take him into the van and start 'asking' for information. See if he knows anything about how they found us."

Falco dragged the sharpclaw into the van and climbed in. "Will do." he said, shutting the door. Krystal hoped into the driver seat of the van and pulled a hunk of plastic out from beneath the stearing wheel, exposing the wired guts inside. Fox pulled his M16 off his back sat down in the passenger seat. "Slippy, head back to the car and meet us at the club." Slippy nodded. "Got it Fox." he took off in the direction of Fox's car. Krystal connected 2 wires together, and the van started up. Krystal pulled out of the parking lot and drove out onto the main road.

There was a small window between Fox and Krystal leading backwards into back of the van. Fox pulled it open and looked inside. "-Stubborn aye? Well your going to tell me what I want to know, or the next place this rifle is going will be right up your-!" Fox pulled the slider closed. "Doesn't sound like he's getting anywhere." Krystal said, looking out onto the road. A loud screetch came from the back of the van, even muffled it rang in Fox's ears. "Alright! I'll talk I'll talk! Just take it out!" came a high pitch cry. Falco knocked on the slider and Fox opened it.

"Got the info. Apparently Scales knows about every mercenary office in town, don't know how but I can find out." he looked back at his victim. "Look I don't know anything else! I'm only a hired gun not a mob boss!" the sharpclaw said, fear dripping into his voice. Falco rolled his eyes and leaned on the divind window. "Well, gues we just need to get to the club and meet with Slip." he said. Krystal nodded and turned right at a stop light. When the van straightened out, the trio were left with the sight of a barricade of sharpclaw holding automatics and RPGS. "Out now!" Fox said. He and krystal dived out of their doors while Falco ran to the back of the van and shoved the doors opened.

"Hey, what's going on?" the sharpclaw asked. Falco turned as he picked up the bags, a sharpclaw had brought up his launcher and was aiming for the van. "Shit. Later pal!" he said to the captive. Falco leaped out onto the snow covered road and made it into a crouch when the van exploded into a fireball. When the van landed the sharpclaw raised their automatics and aimed for him. "Oh for the love of-" he started. Fox stood from his position behind a dumpster and emptied his clip into the group of shaprclaw. "Falco, over here!" Falco turned to see Krystal waving for him. He picked up his bags and sprinted for the safety of a brick walled building.

He slid behind cover and pulled a AK from one of the bags. Fox pulled back behind cover and dropped the empty rifle. _'Fox, we need to pull back!'_ Krystal said into his head. Fox pulled his Bereta from it's holster, whipped around the corner and fired a round into one of the sharpclaw spraying the one behind with blood. He pulled back behind the corner. _'Go ahead, I'll catch up.'_ He looked over to Krystal, worry was filling her eyes. _'No, we have to stay together. The sharpclaw travel in groups, if we're seperated we're dead.'_ Fox smiled, he knew the truth. Krystal needed him, wanted him with her. He looked over to her and smiled. _'I don't plan on dying today Krys.'_

He flagged a small salute to Falco and fired at a few more sharpclaw. Falco got up from the ground and tugged on Krystal's shoulder. "Come on we have to go!" he said over the firefight. Kystal shrugged him off. "Go ahead, I'll catch up." Before Falco could say anything, she dashed across the street fireing a few buckshots into the group of sharpclaw. She rolled next to Fox and put her back to the wall. "What the hell are-" Fox didn't finish his sentence. Krystal pushed her lips onto his, cutting him off. Fox closed his eyes and kissed back. Krystal borke the kiss and stared into Fox's green eyes. "Can we talk about this later?" she asked. Fox slightly grunted. "Damn right we will." Krystal sensed a perved thought in Fox's head and smiled. "Wait till we're somewhere safe before you ri[ my shirt off."

Fox shrugged and loaded a fresh clip into his gun. "Can't blame a guy for having nice thoughts can you?" Krystal shrugged and shot a sharpclaw behind Fox. "Not really." The two ran down the alley away from the sharpcalw's barricade, leaving the sounds of gunfire and the curses from the thugs behind them. One thing was for sure, Scales was onto them and a war had just be started.

The buzzer went off just as he grabbed a beer, Bill sighed. "Can't a guy ever be in peace?" he asked himself. He rolled himself to the front doors as the buzzer went off again and again. "I'm coming I'm coming!" he opened the door, the roters slowly pulling the door up. "Jesus," he began to complain again, then saw the gun barrell in his face. "-Christ." he said under his breath. I'll leave the rest to your immagination.


End file.
